José Martínez Ruiz

José Martínez Ruiz studied at Centre educatiu privat Escola Pia Sant Antoni and University of Salamanca. The recorded working language is Spanish. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are drama and essay. Miguel de Unamuno and Ángel Ganivet are recorded as an influence. Positions recorded include member of the Congress of Deputies and Member of the Royal Spanish Academy. Work by José Martínez Ruiz is recorded in the collections of Lluís Domènech i Montaner House-Museum. Distinctions recorded are Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III and Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise.

• Name — Azorín • Birth Name — José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruiz • Born — 8 June 1873 • Birthplace — Monòver, Alicante, Kingdom of Spain • Died — 6 March 1967 • Place of death — Madrid, Spanish State • Occupation — * Novelist • essayist • literary critic • Years Active — 1895–1967

José Martínez Ruiz was born in the village of Monòver, in the province of Alicante, on 8 June 1873. The creation of the Second Spanish Republic saw him re-adopt his old progressive political ideals. He abandoned the conservative ABC newspaper to write for the republican newspapers El Sol, La Libertad and Ahora. He edited Revista de Occidente, founded by José Ortega y Gasset, a journal promoting European philosophy, from 1923 to 1936. When he returned to Spain after the Spanish Civil War, he found himself in "inner exile", along with other intellectuals who had not overtly supported the Franco regime during the conflict. He was at first denied a press identification card (tarjeta de periodista), but was supported by Ramón Serrano Suñer, at that time Franco's Interior Minister and president of the Falange. Accepting Franco’s regime was the price he had to pay in order to be admitted back, and he aligned with the dictatorship in a noted article in the right-wing journal Vértice. In his old age, Azorín became a film enthusiast, writing numerous articles, some of which are reprinted in El cine y el momento, and claiming that "Cinema is the greatest form of art". He died in Madrid, Spain on 2 March 1967, at the age of 93.